Preserving the Languages spoken by Uncivilized Nations, 95 



names of rivers, creeks, districts, towns, persons, and natural 

 objects bear a decidedly Polynesian character ; and some 

 words bear this resemblance in signification also. He refers 

 to the idea maintained by De Zuniga that the Philippine 

 Islands were peopled from America, since the features of re- 

 semblance pointed out by him tend to strengthen the suppo- 

 sition of a remote connexion between the Americans and these 

 islanders, whatever may have been the direction in which the 

 communication took place. De Zuniga, in comparing the 

 language of the Philippine Islands to some of those which are 

 spoken by American Indians, says that they are strikingly 

 conformable in their character and structure. Dr. Lang main- 

 tains the correctness of this assertion, notwithstanding its con- 

 tradiction by Marsden. He notices Capt. Basil Hall's obser- 

 vation that the Indians of Acapulco bear a resemblance to the 

 Malays. The advances towards civilization which had been 

 made by the natives of America before the arrival of the 

 Spaniards appear to have been of Polynesian character, as 

 exhibited in their workmanship, their fortifications, temples, 

 and images. Dr. Lang particularly compares the Mexican 

 pyramids with one of a similar construction, 270 feet long, in 

 Atehuru, which has unfortunately been destroyed. He no- 

 tices also a similarity in their mode of worship and holding 

 councils, in their superstitions with respect to the Taboo, and 

 in the wide diffusion of cannibalism, which he conceives to 

 have been maintained as an occasional rite, derived by the 

 Americans from their Polynesian forefathers when the acci- 

 dental plea of necessity no longer existed. I shall conclude 

 this brief sketch of Dr. Lang's views with the following quo- 

 tations from his work : 



" It is doubtless impossible to fix the date of the original 

 discovery of America with any degree of precision. Still, 

 however, we may come within a moderate distance of the 

 truth even on this dark subject. There is evidence to guide 

 the judicious inquirer, scanty in its amount, doubtless, but 

 definite in its announcements, and just as little likely to mis- 

 lead as the records of ancient eclipses. 



" 1. The sources of this evidence to which we are naturally 

 directed is the Polynesian language. In tracing the affinities 

 of the Malayan and Polynesian tongues, I have already re- 

 marked that there are two epochs in the history of the former 

 to which our attention ought to be especially turned. The 

 first of these is the epoch of the Sanscrit, the second the epoch 

 of the Arabic, infusion. 



" Of the Arabic, or more recent infusion, the Polynesian 

 language exhibits no trace whatever. We are therefore warr 



